Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola announced Monday, Jan. 12, she is running for the U.S. Senate seat in Alaska held by Republican Dan Sullivan, using talking points similar to some of his in a two-minute launch video when she declared “our future also depends on fixing the rigged system in D.C. that’s shutting down Alaska while politicians feather their own nest.”

The announcement puts the race high on the national political radar since Peltola is “probably the only candidate that can make it competitive,” the news site Semafor asserted Monday.

Other national publications made similar declarations, with The New York Times reporting it gives the (Democratic) party “a big boost as they fight an uphill battle to win back the Senate in the midterm elections.”

The Senate currently has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who generally side with Democrats on votes.

Peltola, who served a full two-year term as Alaska’s lone U.S. House member from 2023 to 2025 before being defeated by Republican Nick Begich III, said she again is making “fish, family and freedom” her agenda.

She also invoked the late Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and U.S. Rep. Don Young, stating they “ignored Lower 48 partisanship to fight for things like public media and disaster relief because Alaska depends on them.”

Sullivan, elected to the Senate in 2014, is a strong supporter of President Donald Trump and has heavily criticized former President Joe Biden for an agenda the senator has said sought to lock up Alaska’s natural resource industries.

Sullivan repeated many of those points during a keynote speech at the inaugural Alaska Young Republicans state convention in Anchorage on Saturday, Jan. 10.

The senator said he believes developing Alaska’s resource potential is possible again under Trump, who has issued an executive order mandating the repeal of rules that inhibit maximum use of Alaska’s natural resources, as well as seeking an aggressive military buildup that ncludes heavy investment in the state.

Peltola, in her video, used the words “Alaska first” multiple times — a counter to Trump’s constant “America first” references.

“D.C. people will be pissed that I’m focusing on their self-dealing and sharing what I’ve seen firsthand,” she said. “They’re going to complain that I’m proposing term limits, but it’s time.”